What is a Hope Chest?

Most women and teenage girls may have heard the phrase, Hope Chest but do you know what it is? I started thinking about it when my now 18 year old daughter asked me about putting one together for her. I didn't even know where to start or what went into one.

So I did what anyone would do when they need to learn more about a subject, I Googled it. I found a few sites that sell cedar chests like Chest works. There are many different kinds of hope chests still readily available for anyone who wants to buy one.

What would be put into a Hope Chest.

Family recipes

Antique statues or boxes

Scrapbooks

Things for a college dorm room.

A ring you plan on giving to your husband (you can always have it re-sized)

Things that been passed down from generation to generation.

Baby blankets and clothes that you can save for your child.

Family Photographs

Wedding dress passed down through the generations.

A hope chest used to be a cedar chest that young women would store things like linens and dishware to bring with her to her future marriage. In this day and age the things that can be put into a hope chest are only limited by your imagination.

But in 2009 is it reasonable to expect a teenager would think about putting linens and dishware away in a large cedar chest for her future marriage? Isn't there another way teenagers, women and yes boys too, who just want to keep a hope chest can store things away that will help them in the future or that mean a lot to them emotionally.

A Hope Chest doesn't have to be a large cedar box that gets filled with old linens and dishware, it can be anything you want it to be and can be filled with things that mean something to you. Whether you are preparing to move out on your own, get married or go off to college. Taking joy in the preparation of what will come can make it that much more special.

It's a practical necessity to have things to make your first place feel homey when you move out on your own for the first time. A hope chest could be used for this purpose as well. Gathering things we know we would need for a new place and putting them in a hope chest would be helpful.

Are Hope Chests only for girls?

They might have originally been for females but what if you don't have a daughter or have a son and a daughter and want to pass down the family's photos, antiques, scrapbooks or other things to them? You don't have to call it a hope chest if that makes your son feel weird about it but there's nothing wrong with putting together as many things as you would for your daughter or having your son gather things he wants to keep safe for when he moves out on his own and storing them in a chest or box. You might even call it a legacy chest for your son.

No matter what you call it and no matter what you store your belongings in, it's nice to have a few things to take with you from your childhood into your adult life.